Jai Ho
by Princess Tyler Briefs
Summary: TenTen is given the opportunity to achieve her biggest dream, but soon finds the consequences might be more than she can handle; for herself and those she loves most. Eventual NejiTen with a LeeSaku frosting and NaruHina sprinkles.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Welcome to what, I hope, will be the most epic NejiTen fic ever. That's my goal anyway, and I'm going to do my best to accomplish it. I must warn you that this fic is going to go some very dark places, and I'm going to push TenTen about as far as I can. It's an exercise for me in plot and character developing, ultimately, but I hope you enjoy the ride.

A few things you should know before we start: my past for TenTen is pretty much set in stone and, while I'm going to do my best to nutshell the thing here, if you want further explanation please see my stories 'The Forgotten' and 'View the Puppet master'. That second one is incomplete but…it won't be that way forever. You're also more than free to ask questions, and I'll answer them as best I can.

The second thing you should probably know is that I am quite aware of what Jai Ho means, and while I would normally use the translation of Hallelujah, I have a very good reason for keeping the Hindi—namely that the song I know of with the title of "Jai Ho" fits this fic very well, and I want to keep it in mind as I write.

I think that's all, so now sit back and enjoy.

**Disclaimer:** Any and all recognized characters and places are not mined, but the property of Kishimoto. I am not affiliated with him, and make no money off my efforts with this story. It is simply for the sheer joy of writing.

**Summary:** TenTen is given the opportunity to achieve her biggest dream, but soon finds the consequences might be more than she can handle; for herself and those she loves most. Eventual NejiTen with a LeeSaku frosting and NaruHina sprinkles.

**Rating:** M for mature situations, language, and violence.

**Warnings:** Will warn by chapter.

_**Jai Ho  
By: Reggie**_

_Chapter 1_

TenTen pushed herself to her feet, strands of dark hair clinging to her face and neck as she stood shakily, her breath coming in ragged gasps. At seventeen years of age, the young kunoichi knew well what her limits were and that she had passed the safety threshold about a half hour ago. Her body was exhausted, her chakra dangerously low, but she was so close. Push further, push faster, and she'd have it. She would have figure out the secret to the mirrors.

When she thought about it, what Naruto had told her all those years ago still thrilled her.

She knew relatively little about her family's past. She remembered a place surrounded by tree and snow, and then she remembered blood and fire, and coming to Konoha for help. She knew that her family was from a clan in Mist that had the blood limit to use ice chakra, to manipulate both water and air. And that was all she knew, until Naruto had told her about the boy he'd met on his first mission outside the village.

He'd explained to her, in detail, about the circle of ice mirrors and how the boy had jumped from one to the next. He'd gotten Kakashi-sensei to show her the hand seals he'd memorized, even if he couldn't use them. From there, she'd had to figure much out herself.

She could create the mirrors now, as many as five at one time. The problem was figuring out how to get inside them the way Naruto had described. TenTen thought it was probably some way of turning one side into something like water, while maintaining the other side and all the other mirrors. She'd been trying that for hours now, with no success.

Resolutely, she started the seals again, trying to block out the screaming from the house behind her. Didn't they ever get tired of fighting about the same thing? Konoha had been home for thirteen years now, and would be for the foreseeable future. They should just get used to it.

Her hands were trembling as she put them together, trying to force the last of her chakra into work. She was in for a hell of a morning tomorrow when she met the rest of her team for practice, but she didn't care. She didn't care because if she learned to master her limit, she would be more powerful than ever before. Stronger. Faster. Better. She would be able to keep up with her teammates, and no longer be forced to depend on them for help. Watch them succeed and grow and leave her behind.

And why were they still yelling? They'd already been over how food tasted better in Mist, how the men were better in Mist. Which led to screaming about how SHE was a whore who'd sleep with anything with a penis, destroying their family, and then how HE had already destroyed it the moment his thrice-cursed ability was discovered, and so on and so on in a pattern all too familiar to TenTen. It amused her a little that they would sometimes argue for her like she still needed them. She had not seen or spoken directly to her parents in years now, but they still thought they could speak for her.

Sometimes she would sit back and laugh at how stupid it all was.

Only one mirror this time. It was all she could manage with what she had left. That hardly seemed worth it, as even if she got inside she would have nowhere to go. Defeated for the night, she let it fall to the earth and shatter with a sound of breaking glass. The neighbors would probably just think it was her parents again.

Trembling and exhausted, she sunk to the ground. Why had she let Neji have the last of her ear-plugs? He should have just suffered through Guy-sensei's latest speech about how his manly youth was blooming nicely like she did. Although, she confessed to herself with a rueful smile, Neji was still only getting used to the man, and it always so much worse when he was talking about you.

She adored Guy-sensei, really, but the man could be a bit overwhelming, even more so for her reserved teammate. This is why she'd taken pity on him and given him the earplugs, knowing full well that it meant she would get little sleep that night. Because he was Neji, and that alone was reason enough.

"Guy-sensei is going to be furious with me tomorrow," she laughed to herself, pulling her knees up to her chest so she could rest her head on them. There was no way she'd be back up to full strength by morning, and once her over-protective former sensei—now team leader, though they treated him much the same as before—realized this it would be a long winded rant about how, if she wanted to truly enjoy the spring time of her youth, she needed to take better care of herself. Followed by a soft reminder that the futon in his study was always open for her whenever she needed.

Appreciated though that offer was, to those outside the team who didn't know it would seem strange, and she didn't want to bring questions on herself. The rest of the village didn't know that it was Guy-sensei who had looked after her before she'd learned to do it herself. Guy-sensei who had bought her new clothes when hers got too small or torn for repair, who had made sure she was fed, and first taught her to do her hair in what was now a trade mark style. Guy-sensei who had signed his name as enrolling her in the Academy.

They would just ask why a girl of barely seventeen was spending the night at her former-teacher's apartment, and then they would investigate, which would sooner or later lead them right here. Where they would see the wreck of a small house, with its broken windows and barely hanging on front door. It's balcony that she used as her only entrance and exit when the need for food or winter chill forced her to return home.

Her team knew, and Naruto knew, but no one else. And no one would if TenTen could help it.

It wasn't so bad out tonight, anyway. Autumn would be coming soon, but until winter camping out wasn't so bad. She could always use Lee's shower in the morning. He always kept a few sets of her clothing in his drawers for times like this.

Resigning herself to a night spent on the cold ground out by the training fields, as she was just too tired to climb the side of the house to retrieve her usual pack of supplies, TenTen rose slowly to her feet again. It was then that something hovering just behind the trees caught her eye. A flicker of movement, barely more than a shadow.

Were she anything but a trained kunoichi, she probably would have thought she imagined it. The thought crossed her mind briefly, even so, but she knew better than to trust to that. It was impossible for a shinobi to be too careful.

Her first thought was that it might be Neji or Lee, coming to check up on her like the sometimes did. They never said anything about it, and she pretended not to notice because they obviously went out of their way to remain hidden. She didn't know why they did it, but allowed them to just the same. That was ruled out, though, by the creepy feeling that she was being really watched crawled over her skin. She never got that feeling from her boys.

Reaching into her ever present weapon's pouch she removed one of her poisoned senbon; one meant to incapacitate not kill. If someone was spying on her and seen her practicing her blood limit, she had to know who and why.

Her needle sliced the air with deadly accuracy, hitting the spot she had intended. The problem was that her target had moved. The rustling of leaves proved there was most definitely someone there, and TenTen crouched, bracing herself for a real battle, cursing the timing.

"It's alright, it's alright," a voice called from the darkness, a pair of hands coming out into the light in an obvious position of surrender. "I come in peace, TenTen-chan."

Nobody called her that. Not even Guy-sensei. TenTen clenched her fist around the kunai she had already half drawn. She didn't recognize the voice at all. "How do you know me? Who are you?"

The person, whoever they were, stepped out of the trees and bushes that lined her yard at the edge of Konoha, and her first thought was that it was an ANBU as they were dressed in a formless black cloak. After a moment, however, the hood was pulled back to reveal a man. He had long black hair like her father's, which he wore in a high ponytail, and eyes the same color brown as her's and her father's. His face was older, but still smooth and surprisingly kind, with high cheek bones and an easy smile.

He still made TenTen feel like her skin was trying to crawl off her body.

"I shouldn't be surprised you don't recognize me," the man said, his smile widening slightly. "You were very young when your family left Mist after all. My name is Hideki. I am a cousin of your father's."

TenTen sucked in a surprised breath as he eyes widened, the grip on her weapon slackening slightly until she forced herself not to let go just yet. This was too strange. She didn't even know the name of her clan—her own last name—and her father, when she heard him, always talked like almost all of them had been killed. Now here, suddenly, in Konoha was a man that claimed to know him?

She wished she could just turn around and get her father; ask him if this man was who he said he was. But even if they would have noticed her coming in, he was likely too drunk to know.

This man, Hideki, certainly did look the part, though; she had to give him that. Suddenly she wished Neji were there, to help her see if he was a henge or not. "Even if that's true, why are you here?"

"Suspicious? Smart girl." The man laughed, sounding truly delighted. "I was here in Konoha on business, and remembered hearing how my cousin had moved his family here. I just wanted to come see how you were doing, that's all."

"Very well, thank you." There was no hiding the lie, though the screaming had died down to almost nothing. She didn't know how long he had been there, but even a few minutes would have been enough.

The man shrugged, moving forward but keeping his hands open in front of him in an obviously pacifying gesture. "Konoha hasn't been kind to you it seems, TenTen, and I am sorry to see it. You showed much promise when you were young."

The insinuation that she hadn't lived up to that promise stung, even if this guy was lying. "I manage."

"So I can see," and that infuriating easy smile was back. "Did Isao show you how to do that trick with the ice?"

It had been so long since she'd heard her father called by his actual name that it took TenTen a few minutes to remember who Hideki was talking about. She shook her head, refusing to give that man credit were it wasn't deserved, even with a stranger. "I figured it out."

Hideki hmmed, his lips thinning as he looked thoughtful. "Very impressive, TenTen. When you master it, you will certainly be someone to be feared."

Even if that was true, TenTen was beginning to doubt she ever would master it. She'd been working on the move for three years, and made relatively little headway. She was also certain that there was so much more she could do with the power she had, but she had no idea where to start. She wasn't like Neji or Lee, who could see the potential uses of jutsu and made up new ones frequently. All she saw was ice.

Some of that doubt must have shown on her face, as Hideki's eyes softened as he looked at her. "You know, my business will keep me here for a while. Why don't I teach you some things while I'm here?"

Her heart started to race in her chest, and TenTen suddenly found it difficult to breathe. 'Steady there, girl, don't get your hopes up. You have no proof that he is who he says he is. He could have been sent to kill you.'

Except that she wasn't important enough for anyone to want to. She was just plain TenTen, outshone on all sides by her teammates and friends. The only thing she had going for her was a blood limit she couldn't even use. If she had a chance to, maybe, get some of her own back, why shouldn't she take it? If he wasn't who he said he was, she would find out soon enough.

"Why don't we start tomorrow? You look ready to drop right now." Hideki moved back toward the trees, waving behind here. "I'll see you here at sundown tomorrow, if you're interested."

It was such an odd encounter that TenTen could feel her instincts going haywire. The shinobi in her was telling her not to trust it, that there was something to coincidental about this. But, she argued back with herself, such coincidence happened to other ninja in the village sometimes. Maybe it was finally her turn to get a little good luck. Besides, what could he really do to her in the middle of a village full of ninja? If he'd wanted to kill her, tonight would have been the better choice. He'd even acknowledge her exhaustion, so he'd know she would have been less of a struggle tonight than the next day.

This was a win-win situation. Keeping him close, she could see what he was up to. If he was fraud, she could figure out what he really wanted and take care of it as a shinobi of Konoha should. And if he wasn't she could finally, really, have her moment to shine.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Don't you love it when you're trying to sleep, but your brain just won't shut up long enough for you to try? Yeah, I'm in that place. So…if this sucks, that's why. That and my killer sunburn of doom.

By the way…fighting scenes how am I doing?

_**Jai Ho**  
Chapter 2_

Guy-sensei hadn't seemed to notice her exhaustion, and that could only be because Lee hadn't mentioned a word about it. He hadn't outright told their former teacher about her showing up dirty and exhausted on his door step at dawn. She appreciated this, as she really didn't feel like sitting through that lecture one more time. However, Lee had made his opinion on the matter perfectly clear with his comments about how she seemed less focused today, and how he thought she should train harder to keep up.

That was something about Lee that always annoyed her. As much as she adored him—and she did in that 'if I didn't love you so much I'd kill you' way he seemed to inspire in people—Rock Lee had the oddest way of showing his affection. He loved to push your buttons, annoy you and test the limits of your patience, in his own twisted way of trying to make you stronger. Because there was nothing he wanted more than people he loved being able to take care of themselves, so he'd know they were safe even when he wasn't around.

She understood this about Lee. Had understood it almost the first time he'd pulled her braids in their Academy days. The harder Lee pushes you, trying to find the breaking point of your temper, the more he cares.

Which was why, when she found herself on her back for the third time that day, TenTen hesitated to kill him. His intentions were good, even if his methods made her want to pull her hair out.

"Come on, TenTen. You will never make Jounin with me next trials if you do not step up your training." Lee wasn't mocking her, but the sincere tone was worse. He honestly thought she wouldn't be ready at this rate.

She rolled, flipping herself back onto her feet with a back handspring. If he so much as hinted at that again, she was going to knock out every one of those sparkling white teeth of his with a dull shuriken. Maybe that nice big mace Guy-sensei gave her last Christmas.

Lee rolled his shoulders, falling back into his ready stance with that infuriating casual grin of his sliding onto the features that weren't quite boyish anymore. He was growing up to be quite handsome in spite of his irritating habit of following everything their sensei did, but to her he'd always be the goofy kid who's front teeth she'd knocked out her first day of school for trying to protect her from one of the kids teasing her about not having parents.

Her silly, exasperating, loyal, green teammate.

She removed one of her smaller scrolls, the one containing her more specialized weapons, sparing a quick glance over at Guy-sensei and Neji's sparring. They were technically the same rank, but it was obvious to her that Guy was still years ahead of Neji in terms of skill. The Hyuuga could obviously see it too, as his frustration was visible in his uncharacteristically hasty attacks. He was going to make a mistake soon, and then they'd have to switch partners.

This, she decided, was a mixed blessing. On days where her exhaustion was evident, she usually spared only with Lee. Not because Lee was any easier for her to beat, usually, but because he'd go easy on her no matter how many times she told him not to, and Guy-sensei knew that. Neji wouldn't do anything but his best even if she did ask him.

That was another reason she desperately wanted to wipe that smile off Lee's face. Stupid kid was even going easy on her, and he'd beaten her three times already.

'Not after tonight,' she thought grimly, nimble fingers snapping open the seal on her scroll. 'Don't take your eyes off me, Rock Lee. I'll be beside you in those trials, and show you what I can really do.'

He came at her hard and fast, ducking low and running, aiming for her feet. Since switching to her large scroll from the sets of smaller ones, TenTen had flown far less than in the past. It was heavy, and harder to support herself in the air than it had been years ago. Lee would know this, and had probably been counting on this pattern to continue. But, just because she hadn't didn't mean she couldn't do it. Gathering chakra to her feet in the way she'd taught herself, she pushed up, flipping and soaring over Lee's head, twisting her torso around to face him and biting the tip of her thumb. Just a drop that was all she needed.

She released the scroll enough for it to unravel, the long strip of paper filling her vision. Lee would already be moving, probably chasing her into the air. She didn't have a lot of time to pick a good weapon.

Unlike the jutsu of her mysterious blood limit, weapons were objects she could understand. She could usually turn just about anything around her in to some kind of weapon, and with a couple of days' hard work she could use any weapon given her in its most basic moves, and do it well.

This particular one she'd been working to master for nearly six months now. She hadn't yet used it in combat, but there was no better time to try it. She had, after all, picked this particular one to counter Lee if she had to face him in the Jounin trials.

With a quick flick of her wrist she drew a line across the seal with her bloody thumb, right hand clasping the chain whip the instant it appeared in the small puff of smoke, her left rerolling the scroll to stow away as she already began spinning.

The chain wasn't as long as she really wanted, but nine sections was as far as she could manage without nearly decapitating herself. The chain whip had been a difficult weapon to learn without pushing the limits that far.

She had correctly guessed Lee's intent, and once she saw him she twisted again, spinning as hard and as fast as she could. Wrap it once around herself to build momentum. Release. Wrap it twice. Release. There, she shot her wrist out in a quick flick, sending her weapon spinning towards her friend in an vertical attack. On the ground, it would have been easy enough for Lee to roll and avoid it, but he couldn't match her for speed in the air without removing his weights. Instead he twisted and shot out his arm, attempting to block it with his forearm, careful to avoid the end. He'd learned from a few nasty run ins with a few of her weapons to always assume the sharp ends were poisoned. In this case, that assumption was correct, and she already had the antidote in her first aid kit in case they needed it.

Lee's block probably didn't go as he'd planned, though it worked great for TenTen as the links wrapped around him tightly. The older boy twisted to try and grab it, prepared to yank the weapon out of her hand, but TenTen responded with a twist of her own, throwing her body weight behind it and twisting Lee's arm rather painfully. She flicked her wrist to unwind it, returning it to high speed as it came loose. They landed hard, perfect throwing distance from each other, and TenTen couldn't resist removing a few of her lose shuriken to toss them at him, hard and fast. Lee dodged those easily, removing a kunai to send the last one spinning back at her, which she blocked with a quick spin in front of her face.

The grin was back on Lee's face, but this time he looked more genuinely pleased than teasing her with his relaxation. "Maybe you have been training hard, TenTen."

"You better believe it," she growled, crossing the chain in front of her in a figure eight before she shot it out again, aiming for his head with deadly speed and accuracy. When they were children, they had often held back when training out of fear of hurting the others. They had since learned they needed to trust their opponent to take care of themselves, because if you didn't you would lose. Training 'accidents' had increased, but so had their power, and their ability to take hits from their enemies, knowing already that they had survived worse. Tsunade didn't approve of this, but then she rarely approved of anything Team Guy decided and never had.

Lee spun low, his foot drawing a line in the dirt of their usual practice field before he charged, trying to get close enough to render her whip ineffective. If she wasn't careful, he could do it easily, which is why her scroll had not been carelessly thrown away. If she had to switch to a close range weapon, it needed to be something she could reach easily. For now, however, she wanted to keep playing with her new toy, so she increased the speed, swinging it madly a fraction of an inch from her face, to quickly for Lee to easily find an opening on her front, before she increased the swing, aiming for his side with a powerful twist of her body.

This was dodged with a twisting leap, his feet aiming for her head while the younger green beast tried to land on his hands. TenTen took this opportunity to swing the chain around her neck and quickly back again, reversing directions of her spinning. She twisted her wrist, manipulating the chain, and it wrapped around Lee's leg from knee to ankle. She jumped back, twisting her hands and body, pulling his leg toward her to send his face into her foot, instead of the other way around. Of course, he couldn't just take that. Instead, Lee reached out, grabbing her foot in a block with his hands, instead of using them to try and cushion the inevitable fall onto his head. Not that a blow to the head usually did much to stop Lee; he had a skull like diamond, as far as TenTen could tell. It explained a lot, if she thought about it.

Forced back by his unyielding block, she jerked around, switching her grip on the chain to her left hand. She pulled it taut, using the chain to spin herself instead of it in a reversal kick to the back of his head instead, letting him go a half-heartbeat before impact. With his leg immobilized, Lee hadn't been able to turn fast enough, and her shoe hit him squarely between the shoulder blades while the release let him fall back to the ground. He landed hard, rolling a few feet, before he managed to flip and get his feet back under him.

Using the back of one bandaged hand, Lee laughed as he wiped dirt from his face. "Very good, TenTen. I take back everything I said about you today, and more."

That was comforting, in a way. Except she was just too exhausted to keep up this pace for more than another five minutes. All she'd done was delay the loss heading her direction.

At twelve, she'd been stronger than both boys, having spent most of her childhood getting extra help from Guy, back before he was Guy-sensei and only Ouji to her. For the first three months or so, she had dominated all of their sparring sessions, her fast and deadly weapons too much for either of her teammates. Then Lee had found his own special place in Guy-sensei's heart, and Neji had found a way to master his clan's best techniques, in spite of everything. They had improved with head-spinning speed, while she had remained standing still.

It was a good day if she could get either of them to break a sweat when sparring her anymore. And though they never said it, she knew all three of her teammates thought what she feared. That she had topped out her skills at thirteen, and she simply could not get stronger.

Lee came at her again in an air to ground kick, which she turned to dodge, but the sound of something very solid hitting the tree to their left distracted them both. By the time they'd looked over, Neji was already standing, looking coldly neutral. The only sign he'd been thrown at all, instead of just choosing to stand in the shade with his arms crossed, was a handful of leaves that had come loose and were slowly making their way to the ground.

She met Lee's eyes and both of them grinned at Neji's obvious annoyance. Neji's personality had warmed greatly since their genin days, but it was still nice to see him knocked down a peg or two every once in a while.

"It is time for a short lunch break. After all, how can we improve our bodies without giving it what it needs to continue?" Guy announced, stepping over toward them. With the sun behind him like that, it made him look bigger, more intimidating than usual. He didn't even look tired from his intense sparring with the oldest of the trio, which only increased the feeling that he was larger than life. All those people that asked how Team Guy could hold their sensei in such esteem had never seen him like this.

You didn't argue with Guy-sensei when he was like that, and TenTen and Lee quickly fell back from each other and bowed. If Lee noticed TenTen grinding her teeth in frustration as she put her whip away, he again chose not to say anything about it.

Neji had taken advantage of his loss to sit on the ground against the tree, a coveted position they usually subtly fought over. They were all usually exhausted from training by the time lunch came around, and the feel of the tree supporting your weight was nice. Why they didn't just sit in a line so they could all lean against the tree, instead of in a circle, TenTen didn't know, but it was one of those things you just didn't mess with.

Lee dropped down on Neji's left, pulling out the two lunches he'd packed and handing one to TenTen as she sat across from him. He must have put them together while she was in the shower. Leave it to Lee to think of something like that.

"You better be careful, Neji-kun," Lee laughed, grabbing one of his rice balls from the small box. "If you do not keep up your training, TenTen and I will soon catch you."

The look Neji sent her way was a mix of exasperation and secret amusement. He understood Lee's bizarre way of showing he cared. Even the infamous Hyuuga cool had a breaking point, and no one could find it faster than Lee. There had been more than a few occasions that the only thing that had stopped an earth-shattering fight between the pair had been TenTen's interference with some shiny toys to distract them. Neji would never admit it, but TenTen knew he really appreciated the fact that Lee cared, just like she did, after so many years of being alone.

"The Jounin trials are less than a month away," Guy informed them, casually sliding some of his own lunch into TenTen's box. All three of them noticed, none of them said anything. He'd probably get some to Lee and Neji 'to keep up their strength' before the break was over. "You and TenTen must work hard between now and then surpass your teammate and join the ranks of the elite ninja."

Which was Guy speak for 'you two need to stop playing around and get serious'. Because Lee had been playing around with her, even if she'd been giving the fight her all.

Sometimes their pretending that she was anywhere near their level hurt more than she could express. They knew, everyone knew, that she was the weakest of their group. It would be an amazing stroke of luck, or pity on Tsunade's part, if she ever reached the rank of Jounin, and pretending otherwise didn't change it.

She clutched her rice ball, frowning hard, forcing those thoughts from her mind. She could get stronger. She would. She hadn't realized the trials were so close, but, now that she thought about it…"Guy-sensei, other countries send people to watch the exams. Have some of them arrived yet?"

The older man looked at her, his curiosity easy to read on his face. "It is possible. You know the Jounin trials aren't as open as the Chuunin exams, but the Hokage does invite the other nations to send a couple of representatives to watch as a gesture of good will. There's no reason they couldn't have already begun enjoying our hospitality and viewing our strength. Why do you ask?"

"I met a man from Mist last night." TenTen tried to keep her voice casual, but some of the excited hope that had kept her awake most of the night managed to creep through. "He's offered to teach me a few things."

All three males looked at her in blatant surprise. Even Neji didn't bother to try and hide the widening of his eyes or his chopsticks freezing halfway to his mouth.

Lee recovered first, closing his gaping mouth and covering it with a wide grin. "That's great, TenTen. Is he a relative of yours?"

She nodded, her eyes not leaving Guy's face as it darkened slightly. All three of her teammates knew her history and about her blood limit. It wasn't exactly a secret, but it was something they always choose to be discreet about when possible. Guy had learned when she was very young, Lee had learned by following her home, and Neji she'd finally caved and asked for his help. They, along with Naruto and Kakashi, were the only ones besides the Hokage who knew.

"What exactly did he offer you?" Neji asked calmly, lowering the bite that hadn't yet made it to his mouth. The underlying question of 'and what does he get in return' went unsaid, but she could hear it in the lack of emotion in his voice. Neji always jumped to the worst conclusions, and though she couldn't blame him it was occasionally frustrating.

"Just to teach me a few techniques while he's here. A few basics to get me started, and pass on some family traditions. That's all." She smiled, taking a nibble of her lunch. She supposed she could have surprised them by pulling out the techniques at the trial, but this way, if she asked for back up, they would understand.

Guy-sensei's frown deepened, and he didn't bother to hide it as he spooned a little more of his food onto her plate. A silent message to keep up her strength and be on her guard. "Are you sure he is who he says he is, TenTen?"

"He knew my father's name." She hadn't noticed the significance of this until later, but it was a pretty strong indication of the truth of his words, when she herself could barely remember the man's real name. "Either he's an excellent fake, or he is exactly what he claims, and here for the trials."

Lee looked skyward, obviously thinking hard about something, while Neji raised his lunch to his face, offering a barely audible, "I don't like this."

TenTen glared at him out of the corner of her eye before smiling brightly at her teacher. "If it is true, how can I pass up this opportunity to get stronger? I might never have another chance."

It was mean and calculated to speak to Guy instead of the other two. They would go along with whatever he said, and she knew well it was hard for their former sensei to deny her anything. He still felt he should somehow save her from her family, even though she would legally be an adult in only six months and was more than capable of taking care of herself, and granting her every wish seemed to be his way of making up for his failure. Usually, she avoided using him like this, but this was too important.

The older man sighed heavily, closing his eyes. "I approve of your desire to better yourself, TenTen, but remember to take care of yourself, and, though I am no longer your teacher, remember that I am willing to help you also."

Translation: I've got your back if you get in to trouble, and be careful.

She smiled at him, picking up her chopsticks to finish the simple meal in front of her. "I will, sensei."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Glad that you're all enjoying this fic so far. I have many evil plans for this story; I'm kind of excited about it. I just hope you guys are up for a long ride.

_**Jai Ho**_  
_Chapter 3_

"You know, TenTen-chan, your work ethic is quite impressive."

TenTen glanced over at her mysterious relative, trying to keep her hold on the ice around her. When Hideki had met her outside her house at sunset, he'd immediately dispelled most of her fears by demonstrating a move that involved creating ice out of the puddle she'd put on the ground, forming it into thousands of senbon. As her clan was the only one she knew of that could make ice like that, it confirmed his story to a certain extent. Since then, they had spent the last hour and a half working on her perfecting that same ability.

Hideki smiled at her with that same bone-chilling smile, seemingly amused by her obvious confusion. "I just mean that it's unusual to see a kunoichi your age taking her ninjutsu training so seriously. Many of them are still too busy chasing boys."

Ah. She laughed lightly, drawing back her wrist. It was more like controlling chakra wire than actually throwing weapons, and it was taking longer than she liked to get her accuracy back up to normal level, unused to controlling something so small in that manner. "I don't see any reason to bother with them."

After all, having a man didn't guarantee happiness. She'd watched her mother when she was young and learned that lesson well. After they'd arrived in Konoha, both her parents had tried to put Mist and everything they'd lost there—friends, family, their home and culture—behind them in different ways. Her father tried to drown his sorrow in alcohol and gambling, her mother in drugs and men.

Both of them had tried to avoid the little girl they'd brought with them, a reminder of what they'd left behind, leaving her to fend for herself in every way.

"So there's no special man in your life?" Hideki sat on the grass, flipping his long black hair casually over one shoulder, watching as she took aim at the targets she'd set up across the field. "What about that teammate of yours, Hyuuga Neji?"

Her shot went wide as she jerked in surprise, head whipping to meet his laughing gaze. Her cheeks were flushing, which she knew would give the wrong impression. Of course she liked and admired Neji. She always had, but she knew better than to think Neji would bother with a girl like her. She was to wild for him and his perfect white world. TenTen prided herself on her practicality, and hoped for no more than a little of Neji's admiration for her skills. That was all she wanted.

Hideki laughed, holding his hands up in surrender. "Okay then, touchy subject for a stranger to bring up."

"It is a bit casual." She replied darkly, resetting her position to take aim at the targets once again. Shouldn't she be the one prying into his life, since he's the one that sought her out? "You were spying on me if you learned about Neji already."

"You're not the only one who is suspicious, TenTen-chan. I didn't want to teach secret techniques to just any girl." Hideki waved his casually, leaning back on his hands.

"Just how long have you been watching me?" The thought that it had been for more than last night made her extremely uncomfortable. She was supposed to be a ninja, but she hadn't felt or noticed his presence at all?

"I just asked around today, is all. Getting information on teammates as famous as yours wasn't difficult. It was getting them to understand that it was you I was talking about was the hard part. Nobody seemed to know anything about TenTen."

Her hand jerked almost on reflex, sending the handful of needles most ungracefully against the tree, where they flopped off uselessly.

Everyone would know Neji and Lee. Of course they would. One was the prodigy of the Hyuuga clan, youngest Jounin of their generation. The one who defied destiny and the odds to prove his own greatness. And the other? The other ran around in green spandex, for one thing. For another, he could only use Taijutsu, but still he was considered one of the top shinobi of their rank, and he was well on his way to being the first Jounin ever to be capable of only Taijutsu techniques.

How could she, little no name TenTen with her shiny toys, compete with that?

Hideki didn't seem to notice just how low his offhand comment had sunk her spirits, as he continued to talk in that same light tone. "To continue the personal questioning, may I ask you why your father hasn't taught you any techniques? He was a master of most of ours before he left. As the nephew of the clan head, he had access to some that even I don't know."

TenTen let her hand drop a little, a sense of aching sadness filling her heart. She hadn't known that about her father. "Long ago, my mother asked him not to, but I don't see why a promise to her would stop him. They don't even speak to each other anymore." Not civilly, anyway. She couldn't remember the last time they'd had a conversation that didn't involve screaming. It must have been before they got to Konoha. "I'm not sure he'd remember them enough to teach them anymore. I know it's been years since he used them."

"If the clan were ever to reform," Hideki said idly, standing and moving to correct her stance back up, "your father would be head, the way things stand now."

It was a surprisingly sickening thought. Her father couldn't even take care of himself, last she saw. He smelt like alcohol, and urine, covered in dirt and scruff and who knew what else. That had been a few years ago, the last time she'd used the front door, but she very much doubted he'd gotten better since then.

Some of that must have shown on her face as Hideki smiled at her sympathetically. "That bad, huh?"

Not knowing what to say, TenTen instead resumed throwing her ice needles. Complaining about the way things were didn't change them, so she tried to avoid it. Instead she worked hard, saving what money she could for an apartment so that the day she could legally leave, she'd be out of there.

It would have been easier to do if she had been able to get her money before her sixteenth birthday. If she'd been an orphan, like Neji or Naruto, her money would have been hers from the start, but by Konoha law because her parents were living they got her checks until her sixteenth birthday.

She'd never seen any benefit from her work, those four years. Guy-sensei had still continued to feed and clothe her when he could, while she struggled to become everything her parents hated—a shinobi of Konoha.

"Can you make other weapons from the ice?" Something less personal to talk about. Something she knew how to cope with. "If I wanted to make a sickle or something, could I do that?"

"I've never seen it done before, but I see no reason why you couldn't." Hideki laughed, stepping back out of her personal space. "Even as a child, I remember you had a love for weapons."

There was a satisfying ring as her weapon of ice stuck in to the target. It wasn't quite as pleasing as metal, but it was nice to know that she wouldn't have to depend on her scrolls as much. "How did you know me as a child? Did you live with us, or something?"

"Other way around, TenTen-chan. You and your parents lived with my wife and me. She was killed in the attack that sent your family here."

The casual way in which this was said surprised her, and TenTen hesitated in her throw, dropping her hand back down to her side. She looked over at him, and suddenly the creepiness seemed to melt away, leaving him looking small and sad and lonely. He couldn't be much older than Guy-sensei, if he was even that. He would be old enough to remember the people that had been lost in the clan massacres. Old enough to hurt for them, like her father did, but wise enough not to try and drown it.

Thinking about it made her heart ache and she looked away from him, unable to hold on to such sad thoughts. "I'm sorry."

"It was a long time ago." He smiled again, but the creepiness she'd felt earlier was suddenly gone. "She always said that when we had children, she hoped they would be like you. I can honestly say I agree with her. I would have been honored to have a daughter with your talent and spirit."

How long had it been since she'd been so simply praised like that? She couldn't even remember. Even Guy-sensei rarely said things like that to her anymore. He was always so busy making sure Lee had the confidence to complete his dreams, and helping Neji become stronger. Guy-sensei knew she could take care of herself, preferred it that way, and he let her. She was fine with that, really, but even so…

She turned her face further away, trying to hide the blush. "Hideki-san is much too kind to me."

"I think you're ready to move on to the next technique." He stepped closer, moving in to the ready position to show her. "But, perhaps, you should ask your Hokage if there is a reason you were never taught earlier. I'd hate to get in trouble for breaking some kind of decree or something."

TenTen couldn't imagine that Sandaime would have bothered with something like that when her family had arrived. He'd seemed content to just grant them permission to live here and nothing more. Still, it could be possible. He could have been afraid that her loyalties would change to her home land, and tried to limit her power. It was a Hokage like decision.

Surely, though, she'd proven herself by now. She'd been on sixty-two official missions, more than that unofficially, most of them C-rank or higher. She had risked her life and more for this village countless times, and in a month she was determined to become a Konoha Jounin. Tsunade would recognize all of this, certainly, as revoke any such silly decree if it existed. She just had to ask, right? "I'll make sure of it, Hideki-san."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** I hope that you all realize that TenTen is an extremely biased and unreliable narrator. Reality and what she perceives are not the same. I'm trying to make that clear, and if I'm not let me know.

I should introduce you lovely readers to Lee's mom sometime. She's Aika, and really a lovely person. Not sure how to work her in a story, though.

_**Jai Ho**  
Chapter 4_

As it turned out, her mirror practice had actually been good for something. It helped to allow her to manipulate the ice into just about any shape she wished. In TenTen's opinion, that was fantastic, as it only took her a few days of solitary practice to manage a whole range of ice weapons. Best of all, they were nearly impossible to break, didn't melt as far as she could tell, and she was beginning to figure out just how to form them into incredibly sharp blades.

True, her maximum time for holding one was only about an hour before her chakra ran out, but that was plenty of time to finish most fights.

She whirled around, icy blade whistling; as she completed another kata with the katana she had created. It wasn't as sharp as she wanted just yet, but with a little more practice…

Sensing someone behind her, she spun, blade aiming for the face of her attacker with years of specialized training behind it. She managed to stop it millimeters away from her intended target. "Neji, you startled me. Don't sneak up on people like that."

Had it been Lee, there probably would have been some comment about how he was a ninja and she kept telling him to practice, but Neji simply blinked at her, white eyes curiously peeking at her weapon. "That's new."

"Hideki-san has been teaching me." TenTen lowered the blade before releasing her chakra, letting it fall to the ground with a splash as it turned back in to water. "It will give me the advantage I need to catch up with you."

Neji made a soft noise of agreement before looking away from her, tilting his head a little as he glanced upward. They both knew he didn't technically need to, but it always made him seem more human when he did such things. "I haven't seen you around all week. You even missed team dinner yesterday."

The fact that it was Neji calling her on this made TenTen smile a little, even though she knew the accusation was really quite serious. Team dinners were a tradition started more out of necessity than any real desire to spend time together. Lee's mother was a civilian, who worked two jobs, just trying to pay the bills, and so food supplies for him were often rather low and far from healthy in spite of her best efforts; feeding TenTen was not the top of her parent's priority list, either. That was how Guy decided to treat them both to dinner once a week, to make sure they at least didn't starve to death, and after a month it had been Lee's ambition to get Neji to come along. TenTen herself had helped him simply because she thought it was fun to drag the Hyuuga out of his comfort zone from time to time.

All resistance had disappeared after what Team Guy called "The Naruto-incident", and team dinner was a staple in their routine by now. Neji was nothing if not a creature of habit.

"People are starting to wonder if I haven't killed you or something." He didn't smile when he said it, but there was always something about Neji's face that told you he was joking. Some kind of softening or lightening of the eyes that was difficult to describe. TenTen was used to looking for it, though, and she laughed at his attempt at a joke.

It was funny that, though she and Lee had been closer during their Academy days, it was Neji she had followed and was grouped with not long after becoming a Genin. Maybe it was because Lee had become her greatest rival for the attention of the only person that acknowledged her existence, or maybe it was because she could only handle one green spandex induced headache at a time. Really, TenTen didn't know why it was she'd chosen to try and befriend the one member of their team who seemed disinclined to return her affection, but somehow she had and somehow it had been a successful endeavor. At least as far as friendship went.

It must have been unusual to the rest of Konoha to see Neji without her in his shadow for the last week; at least to those who noticed her at all, as Hideki-san had painfully reminded her. She and her Hyuuga teammate almost always spent their evenings after training wandering the shopping district, looking at the vendors but rarely buying anything, delaying the time they would have to return home. Sometimes Lee joined them, but usually not as it was the one time of day he had free that his mother might be home.

"I'm sorry, Neji. Evenings are the only time Hideki-san can teach me. He's busy during the day." Busy with what, she didn't exactly know, and she hadn't bothered to ask. If he turned out to be a spy or a traitor or something that would reflect badly on her, but right now she didn't care. If she was right, and he was only here for the Jounin trials that meant she only had a month to get as much knowledge about her blood limit as she could, and endangering that for no reason was the last thing she wanted. "I'll make it up to you, Lee, and Guy-sensei though, I promise."

"You can make it up to me now. Have lunch with me." Neji didn't give her a chance to protest, instead grabbing her wrist and pulling her after him as he turned and started heading back in to town. It was Saturday, the only day of the week Team Guy didn't meet for training together, which meant they could work as they pleased. It also meant she couldn't really think of any reason not to go with him, other than she really wanted to keep practicing making her new icicle blades stronger, sharper, and better.

Lunch with Neji, however, was worth missing even that.

"Really that lonely, huh?" TenTen smiled, letting him lead her. She liked to keep him on his toes by acting meek sometimes, letting him take the lead without a struggle. It tended to make him nervous, which was always fun to watch when she was having a bad day…or week, like now. The power to make Hyuuga Neji uncomfortable wasn't any sort of real power, but it wasn't something just anyone could do either. "I thought you would be training with your uncle today."

"He had a meeting." The clipped response meant it was either a meeting with the clan council that Neji hated so much, or he simply didn't know what type. It was hard to say which. "I had planned on spending all day training, so when that happened I decided to come and find you."

Straight to the point, as always. She really thought she'd be used to Neji by now. "Glad you thought of me. What if I'd had other plans?"

"Did you?" Neji didn't turn around for his answer, and TenTen doubted he'd activated his eyes to see either. They both knew she didn't. Her life consisted of training with her team to avoid going home, or training by herself to avoid going home. This would seem less sad if she really got anything out of it, but from she was standing that didn't look like a true statement either.

TenTen sighed, waving the hand Neji wasn't holding casually in front of her face. "Completely missed the point, you jerk."

The lip twitch was so small, TenTen knew she would have missed it if she hadn't been looking for it, and it made her own smile widen a little when she did. It was something of a joke between her and her teammates that both idiot and jerk were terms of affection for her. Lee said she used them in place of honey or dear, while Neji maintained, in his dead pan way, that idiot was her codename for Lee and jerk was his. Occasionally stupid was thrown in there just to mess them both up. If she'd started out really meaning the insults, and she wasn't sure she had, they were now completely useless against her teammates as both now where terms of affection for them.

Confident that TenTen was following him now, Neji released her hand and slowed his pace, falling back to walk beside her in comfortable silence for a while. No matter how often he did this, TenTen always appreciated that she wasn't just following him any longer.

"Have you learned very much from this relative of yours?" Neji asked slowly, again looking up instead of at her. It was one of the amusing tells her teammate had that told you he wanted to ask something you probably wouldn't like, and he was still thinking about how to word it.

Hands clasped behind her back, TenTen grinned at him. "I've learned a lot, actually. That sword you saw, as well as any weapon I please. I can also make a whirlwind of ice needles." She hadn't tried it on a person yet, but it looked painful for her target. "Hideki-san says I'm very talented."

"So he is a member of your clan then." Lowering his head, Neji looked at her with a carefully neutral expression. "Do you intend to have him help you with your dream, then?"

Her dream…her real dream. The one she often thought about but almost never said. Her dream of one day returning to Mist and restoring peace to Kirigakure. Of becoming Mizukage, stopping the rituals of blood, restoring the clans, fixing it all. It was what she wanted, more than anything, for as long as she could remember. Once she had managed it, become that strong, she wouldn't have to rely on others and she would be important and loved by the people she had saved. It meant leaving Konoha one day, she knew that, but in her heart it would always be home and she could help Naruto with his dream of bringing peace to the ninja world. Really help, not just sit back and take orders.

That goal had never felt more far away than that moment. She couldn't even manage to beat Lee, how on earth was she going to become the Mizukage?

It seemed every time she turned around, lately, reality was trying to crush her. If she'd spent her childhood under the care of anyone but Might Guy, it probably would have. She had learned from his example, though, and refused to let it win. She could change her reality, if she tried hard enough for long enough. "Hideki-san says I'm quite skilled with my limit. With his help I should have some mastery over it in no time."

Admitting to Neji that she could only do this with help was painfully hard. He had learned most of the techniques of his clan alone, with almost no support. He always told her that he had more help than she did, with others to watch and clan records to look at, but she couldn't see how that should make a difference. Neji had had to figure things out on his own, just like she did, and had been much better at it.

"You didn't answer my question." Neji's face changed slightly from neutral to eyeing her intensely. "Has he promised you anything?"

There were moments when she thought she might love Neji, but times like this when he was being suspicious and protective were not those times. She did not need, and certainly did not want, protection. She had not worked so hard to climb this high just to have someone else steal what was hers in their misguided need to protect her. She didn't need the extra weight dragging her back down. "Nothing. Is it so hard to believe he just wants to teach me?"

"Yes. Clan secrets aren't taught to outsiders without purpose." It was obvious that Neji was weighing something in his head, once again trying to decide if he should say what he wanted. Sometimes she wished he was more like Lee, and would just blurt out what he wanted to say so she wouldn't have to guess what went on behind his blank eyes. "Even a byakugan wouldn't guarantee you the right to any Hyuuga clan secrets. Illegitimate children are born to shinobi all the time, some from missions some not. If they aren't brought to the compound and claimed in the first six months of life, white eyes entitles them to nothing but confusion from a limit they cannot control."

"Oh how cheerful," TenTen muttered, rolling her eyes. It was amazing that she could wish Neji was more honest, and then curse him for being so with her next breath. "I'm not some bastard street-rat, you know."

"I didn't say that." Frowning at her, Neji shook his head slightly. "I'm just saying that such techniques are usually so closely guarded that teaching them to someone from Konoha seems odd."

"Mist isn't like Konoha, Neji." She didn't know much about her homeland, but she understood that much. "Clans have no power, and they have to take it where they can get it. If a miracle happened and anything happened to my father, I'd be the heir to our clan should things change. Why shouldn't I know how to wield this power?"

"You want to go back with him." And Neji looked just as surprised as she felt by the anger with which he said that.

"Not right now, no. I'll have to, someday." One didn't just become Mizukage by waltzing in and claiming it, after all, although the idea of a glorious revolution appealed to her. Even then, she'd have to leave to gain trust and followers. Neji knew this; he'd been the one to point it out to her.

Hideki had offered, though. Just the night before he had surprised her with a kind smile as they were replacing most of the water into buckets. "I don't know why you aren't a Jounin yet, TenTen-chan. Your skills are quite impressive. Konoha must either be blind or else far more powerful than even rumor tells to let a prize like you waste your skills on Chuunin missions. You should come back with me when I finish my missions. I know in Mist your talents would be truly appreciated."

He had only been being kind, though. Again, TenTen was much too practical to think herself better than she really was. She would be a Jounin when Tsunade deemed her ready, and she wouldn't be ready even a moment before that instant.

Even if it was nice to think otherwise.

"Just be careful, TenTen. You're an important part of our team, and I do not trust this situation." Neji watched her intensely for a few seconds more before turning and setting off back towards the main part of time. "You have good instincts, though, and I trust them. Do as you feel you must."

Praise was rare from Neji, and usually she would have smiled at that, but today it sounded hollow. If she had such good instincts, why couldn't she decide for herself whether this was too good to be true or not?


End file.
